The Ministry of the Interior has ordered the Information units of the State security forces and bodies to reinforce the “prevention and protection” of the Jewish community in Spain, after one of the Hamas leaders has made a call to the “global jihad” as a response to the situation in the Gaza Strip, as sources from the anti-terrorist fight confirmed to La Vanguardia. However, the possible risk of attack in Spain – at this time – is low, according to the intelligence reports with which the Information services work.
The protection of the community – made up of about 45,000 people; very far from the almost half a million Jews in France – which the Interior has ordered involves reinforcing security in “especially vulnerable” places such as the Israeli embassy in Spain, synagogues and other community meeting centers.
When Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February last year, the Interior took similar security measures to protect Ukrainian interests.
The message launched by one of the ideologues of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, has come as a shock to the Jewish community. Meshal, 67, has called on the Muslim diaspora to apply jihad around the world in the face of the ultimatum given by Israel to evacuate the entire northern Gaza Strip. The information services of the National Police and the Civil Guard suspect that if the ground invasion by the Israeli army finally materializes, the escalation of calls for global jihad will cause a high threat. And that is so, the same sources explain, because the messages are not directed at organized groups in Western countries, but at solitary actors who have become radicalized: the so-called lone wolves, individuals that are very difficult to detect by police radars. Sometimes, they undergo an express radicalization process, such as the attack on two churches in Algeciras (Cádiz) at the beginning of the year, which makes them practically impossible to detect.
It is on this profile that the State security forces and bodies have their magnifying glass on. To carry out an attack, experts detail, three conditions must be met: material means, the ideal opportunity and, above all, the will. And the latter, in numerous previous attacks, has been caused by an external stimulus such as Meshal's message in which he encouraged "all those who learn jihad" to participate in days of "wrath."
